Investigation of glass forming ability in Ce–Al–Co (Cu) alloys

Abstract The compositional dependence of the glass forming ability (GFA) and the correlation between their GFA and the GFA-related parameters of the Ce–Al–Co(Cu) alloys were investigated. Rapidly quenched ribbons with compositions of Ce 65 Al x Co 35 − x (x = 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 27), Ce 70 Al x Co 30 − x (x = 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17) alloys, Ce 70 Al x Cu 30 − x (x = 5, 7, 10, 13, 17) and Ce 90 − x Al 10 Cu x (x = 15, 20, 25, 30) alloys, were prepared by melting spinning, respectively, and their phase transformations were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurements. The experimental results indicated that the GFA of alloys Ce 65 Al x Co 35 − x (x = 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 27) increased with the increasing Al content from 5 at.% to 27 at.%. The GFA of Ce 70 Al x Co 30 − x (x = 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17) alloy ribbons decreased with the increasing Al content from 2 at.% to 17 at.%. Fully amorphous phase has been formed in all investigated Ce–Al–Cu alloys. It was found that only the parameter F 1 among the criteria (Δ T x , T rg , γ, γ m , γ c , δ, β, β', β m , ϕ, ξ, ω, ω', ω 2 and F 1 ) for BMGs formation could reflect the GFA of the Ce–Al–Co and Ce–Al–Cu alloys. The thermal stability of the alloys with partial amorphous is higher than that of the alloys with fully amorphous in Ce–Al–Co(Cu) alloys.